Today in Comics History, June 29, 1643: From Bard to Verse

I'm a straightforward Stratfordian, which means I believe that the works written by William Shakespeare were written by William Shakespeare. (Obvious enough?) Of course there are those (who are WRONG) who take the Oxfordian position and believe the (WRONG) theory that since Shakespear was supposedly not educated ernough to write all those works (WRTONG!), that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, wrote the plays and poems of William Shakespeare. That is, of course, WRONG. Among (WRONG) Oxfordian scholars who believe that Shakespeare was de Vere: Sir Derek Jacobi, Jeremy Irons, Keanu Reeves, Anne Rice, Michael York, Sigmund Freud, Enoch Powell, and comic book creator and noted crank John Byrne. Who is WRONG.

However, I'm always up for a good Shakespeare conspiracy fiction story, and this very volume of European series Blake & Mortimer addresses the possibility that Shakespeare didn't die in 1616 but instead faked his own death (he's always pullin' that) and left the country on the very same day London's Globe Theatre burnt down: June 29, 1643!




from The Adventures of Blake & Mortimer v.24: The Testament of William S. (Cinebook, March 2017), script by Yves Sente, translation by Jerome Saincantin, pencils and inks by André Juillard, colors by Madeleine DeMille, letters by Design Amorandi
It's a great album and this little stuffed bull highly recommends it as an introduction to some of the more bizarre and science-fictiony Blake & Mortimer stories. However, I still can't buy the alternate history that it proposes. Why?

Because I, Bull Shakespeare, wrote the famous works. And hey, I would like my royalities now, please.